The Legend of Awesome
by KittyThomas
Summary: Set mostly between chapters 2 and 3. Korra adjusts to life in the Republic City and with Tenzin's family, and embraces, for the first time, the idea of having friends. Needs better title!


**A/N: So, I'm in love with the new season of Avatar and I foresee many, MANY fics based on it. I just watched episode 3, and, of course, I loved it. I just -and I can't believe this- really wish we hadn't dived in quite so readily! I actually wanted... fillers. A chance to adjust! To know our characters a little better. It's not that I mind plot advancement in the slightest it's just... ah. I can't explain it. So I just started writing this, set between episode between 2 and 3. I imagine it takes place less than a week after Korra joins the Fire Ferrets, and also chronicles her adjustment to the city and life with our favourite Airbending family!**

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Korra woke up with an electrifying feeling of awareness, as if someone had simply flicked a switch inside her. Korra off, Korra on. _Korra asleep – Korra awake!_

She leapt out of bed in a bound and landed deftly on her feet, turning with perfect precision to the chair where she'd dumped her clothes the night before. They were still good for another day -and they would have to be, since she hadn't _quite _got around to buying any more clothes since her arrival in Republic City a few days ago. All she had were her water tribe clothes and the robes Tenzin made her wear for training. She supposed she had her Pro-Bending clothes as well, although they were currently being refitted and they didn't exactly count since she couldn't really wear them strolling around the city.

She changed quickly, her eyes fixed, as had become the norm whenever they had no-where more important to be looking, (and sometimes even when they did, which was probably the reason for her increase in walking into pillars incidents since her arrival) on the arena on the other side of the lake. Tenzin had given her almost entirely free reign of the empty rooms on the Island -in fact, it was the most freedom he'd allowed her up till that point- but the minute she'd seen the view from this one, the decision had been made for her.

"Are you sure?" he'd said, raising a slightly derisive eyebrow. "This one's a little... dusty." He swiped a single long finger across an empty shelf and surveyed the powdery greyness with utmost dislike. Pema grinned.

"It's fine, dear. It just needs a good clean."

"Yeah, clean, clean!" Ikki shrieked, streaking passed her parents and bursting into the room. She span around several times on an air scooter, generating a massive cloud of dust. Meelo, his huge mouth flapping with glee, followed her example until everything from the walls to the bystanders was coated in a thick layer of dust.

Including Tenzin, who was, suffice to say, a little less than pleased.

Pema just laughed and brushed herself down, squeezing her husband's shoulder.

It hadn't taken very long, once the kids had calmed down and Pema supplied a tub of warm soapy water, to clean room thoroughly. It fact, the task might have been completed even faster if Meelo hadn't insisted on trying to blast wet sponges across the room using his airbending, yelling very loudly as he did so, "Look Mommy, I'm CHORE-BENDING!"

It took even less time, given the virtually non-existent bag of belongings Korra had brought with her from the South Pole, to settle in.

Life in the Republic City and on Air Temple Island was very, very different from the life Korra was used to. She could barely get used to the heat, the feeling of grass under her feet, the smell of dew in the mornings... life in the city was even stranger. The endless stream of people, the towering buildings, the blur of saddle-mobiles, the endless, constant noise... it had been somewhat of a relief to finally set foot on the island and remember more or less what silence felt like.

Of course, nowadays, whenever she was on the Island, her eyes were straying to the city, thinking longingly of the arena, of people her own age...

Another thing Korra loved about her new life -and something she'd freely admit if anyone asked- was the feeling that, for the first real time in her life, she had something like friends. This was a feeling nearly entirely new to her. It wasn't exactly like she was friendless back home (she would like to think, for example, that Master Katara was a friend of hers, or at least as close as master and pupil could get) but it had been very difficult, growing up the Avatar, to bond with the other children at school. In fact, so much of her time had been taking up with training that she'd spent very little time with kids altogether. When she'd first started to master Waterbending, she'd sparred with other children her own age, but she quickly surpassed them and had to be bumped up to more experienced benders. She'd hoped, when she'd started to learn Earthbending and her Earthbending Master moved the South Pole with a group of young prodigys, that she might befriend them, but it was very difficult to make friends when you genuinely wanted to surpass them in every way, and they genuinely, in turn, wanted to boast to everyone that they'd "kicked the avatar's ass."

By the time she came around to mastering Firebending, she'd given up trying to make friends and dedicated herself instead to thoroughly beating them.

But she didn't want to beat Mako and Bolin. Well, OK, sometimes she wanted to beat Mako into giving her a compliment, or wiping that superior, all-knowing smile off his face whenever they were training. But she didn't want to beat him in a fight. Not yet, at least. And she definitely didn't want to beat Bolin because _they were a team_. They were supposed to work together. The aim of the game for once was to play together, not against. And, aside from that one slip up in her first match, she only ever bended water during training. It was a lot less competitive that way.

Plus -and she wasn't going to admit it this just yet- both Bolin and Mako were very, very good at their respective bending. Better than she was, despite all her training. They had styles her Masters had never bothered to teach her, and as much as she wanted to learn from them, she was quite sure, for the first time in her life, she didn't want to surpass them. Possibly because she hoped -and it was a big hope- that she didn't _need _to be better than them at bending fire and earth, because they were always going to be there to watch her back.

Head full of happy thoughts, Korra hopped down to the kitchen, humming an old Water Tribe tune under her breath. The rest of the family was already up, Pema dishing out bowls of warm, syrupy porridge, Tenzin fussing over her as usual.

"Darling, why don't you sit down for a moment-"

"Why don't you stop fussing for a moment?" said Pema, with a light-hearted scowl. "Korra! Good morning!"

"Mornin' Pema!" said Korra cheerily, sliding into a seat between Jinora and Ikki. The sisters always left a space for her. She snatched up the bowl Pema slid in front of her and began to chew furiously, as if she hadn't eaten for days.

"Eat up quickly now, Korra," said Tenzin stonily, as if this wasn't what she was already doing.

"Gee, good morning to you too Tenzin," she said between mouthfuls, "Did you sleep well?"

Tenzin narrowed his eyes over the rim of his teacup. "I want you ready for training in thirty minutes."

"What!" Korra screeched, dropping her bowl. "But it's the weekend!"

"Did you have something better to do?"

"Yeah! Bolin was going to show me around the City today! I haven't really had the chance to-"

"More important than becoming a fully-realised Avatar?"

Korra glowered. "No, but-"

"Then I'll see you in the training ring in-"

"I'm not going to master Airbender overnight!" Korra hissed, darkening her scowl. "Come on, Tenzin-"

"Give Korra the day off, dear," said Pema calmly. "She's been training very hard all week. Let her take a day to unwind, relax with her friends."

Korra did not imagine a day in the City with Bolin would be remotely relaxing, but she wasn't going to point that out now. At the single request of his wife, all of Tenzin's resolve seemed to be melting away. "All right," he said reluctantly. "But just this one day. I want you up bright and early tomorrow morning."

"Whoo-hoo, yeah!" Korra leapt up. "Thanks Tenzin, I'll see you tonight!"

She tore out of the room without another word.

"Tonight?" Tenzin snapped his head back to his wife. "She's going to be out all day? What- _why_?"

"Maybe she likes one of those boys on her team," said Pema cheerfully.

Tenzin's face contracted, given the distinct impression of someone who'd just accidentally swallowed a very large lemon.

"What?" he asked brusquely, his moustache twitching.

"You know, those boys she trains with? I saw a picture of them in the paper the other day after they got into the Championship. They're both very good-looking. I remember the day I fancied a pro-bender myself well enough..."

"Pema!" Tenzin hissed, his face now resembling a tomato.

"I'm just teasing, dear." Pema smiled, and gave him an affectionate pat.

"So... you seriously think she might... have designs on one of these fellows?"

"Dear! She's a young girl. She's growing up, and she's making friends for the first time in her life. It's perfectly natural to assume..."

"Hmm. Perhaps I should introduce myself to these boys. Make sure they don't get... the wrong impression."

"Daddy's face looks funny," said Ikki suddenly. "Jinora, doesn't Daddy's face look funny? Why does his face look funny?"

Pema laughed, rolling her eyes fondly. "Don't worry, dear," she said, glancing knowingly at Tenzin. "At least your daughters are a little way from that."

"Hmm," said Tenzin, who wasn't even sure he'd admit to Pema that the lines between Korra and his own daughters were becoming increasingly blurred of late. "Indeed."

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**A/N: So, there you go, a bit of a nothing chapter. Kind of went off in a tangent. Have a lot of other stuff I'd like to do, but this seemed a good spot for a break. Let me know what you think? Next stop, our Fabulous Bending Brothers!**


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